


The Asian Elephant

by supremeleaders



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Animals, Brief mentions of animal abuse/mistreatment, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Maz the elephant, Reylo - Freeform, reylo au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-16
Updated: 2020-04-16
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:48:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23674894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/supremeleaders/pseuds/supremeleaders
Summary: Prompt from @reylo_prompts Ben is the primary caretaker of the elephants and during a routine checkup with his favorite female Maz they discover she is pregnant. Now they get a visit each month from the vet who Ben envies b/c she instantly bonds with every animal she helps.The Zoo AU.
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 14
Kudos: 52
Collections: Reylo Prompt Fills (@reylo_prompts)





	The Asian Elephant

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I saw this prompt on twitter and had to write it. Elephants have been my favorutie animal for as long as i can remember so it really spoke to me. Just a warning, I'm not a Zoologist and don't know much about animals or zookeeping, I only know what i've researched in preparation for this fic :) I hope you enjoy!

Ben squawked loudly in shock at the feeling of freezing, ice cold water being sprayed all over him. Completely soaking his beige and khaki zookeeper uniform and matting down his black waves so they straightened out and suck to his, now wet, forehead. 

‘Again, Maz? Really? I’m gonna have to start wearing a wet suit if you keep this up.’ Ben exclaimed whilst pulling off his glasses to wipe the droplets of water from the lenses. 

A loud trumpet was what he got in reply. 

‘You think this is funny, huh?’ He grabbed a nearby towel and began attempting to dry himself off. This was almost routine at this point. He made a silent note to himself that he needed to start bringing his hairdryer to work with him. 

Maz let out a small toot, almost as if she was agreeing with him. 

‘You need to stop with your attitude, young lady.’ Ben joked, with his hands on his hips for dramatic effect. He reached up to rub his hand up and down the vast space of Maz’s wrinkly grey skin. 

‘What’s got you in such a playful mood, huh?’ He scratched below her ear, her eyes fluttered shut and she leant into the contact with a deep sigh. Causing a small smile to raise on Ben’s soft, pink lips. 

Maz was Ben’s best friend in the whole world, his only friend actually. She also just happened to be an elephant, an Asian elephant to be more specific, but Ben didn’t mind. He’d always had trouble making friends, well human friends at least. He’d been very shy and awkward ever since he was a young boy. He loved animals and they loved him; humans however were a much more complicated story. Ben and Maz had a connection, a bond, ever since they first met 13 years ago.  
Maz was orphaned when she was around 3 years old, they weren’t sure of her exact age, but veterinary opinion and observation estimated that she was 2 or 3, she had been bread into captivity and a few years later; her mother had died from health issues and complications due to poor treatment from her owners, they’d bitten off more than they could chew when they decided on illegally keeping and breeding elephants and Maz’s mother had paid the price with her life. The thought of someone mistreating such beautiful animals, or any animals made Ben fume with a deep seated anger. Shortly after her mother’s passing, Maz’s previous owners were arrested and sentenced for the illegal breeding and ownership of exotic animals and animal mistreatment. Maz was then brought to be cared for at Skywalker Zoo. 

Ben had only just begun working at the zoo when he was chosen to be Maz’s primary carer. As the fresh meat at Skywalker zoo, Ben was at the bottom of the food chain, he wasn’t supposed to be a primary carer until he became more familiar with the routines and rules of the zoo and worked his way up the ranks but Maz quite literally chose him to care for her, she refused food or care off of anyone until one day, Ben was taking a break from cleaning the elephant enclosure, the baby elephant snuck up on him where he was sat eating his lunch and stole the banana and pineapple chunks out of his lunchbox before scurrying off and eating them, leaving Ben shocked… and hungry. They’d been inseparable ever since. 

He supposed he’d taken on the role of a mother elephant in Maz’s eyes, with her being orphaned so young. Elephants normally depend on their mothers for the first 15-16 years of their lives and Ben had been there for most of that. He was the only human Maz trusted. No one else could feed, clean or give Maz any other form of care, she also cautiously eyed up anyone that got just a little too close for her liking. She was very anxious and somewhat skittish when it came to humans other than Ben, he couldn’t help but wonder if it was the first few years of her life that made her untrusting of humans. 

Skywalker zoo was opened in the 1940’s by Ben’s grandparents Padme and Anakin. Shortly after Ben was born, Padme and Anakin retired, and the zoo was put into the hands of his parents and uncle, Leia, Han and his uncle Luke. Running a zoo was very hard, time consuming work so Ben spent all of his time as a child at the Zoo, due to his parents’ busy schedules. Ben had loved and been around animals for his whole life. Even at his childhood home they had Chewie, the family dog (who could, honestly, be mistaken for a bear) he had been a great big hulking thing, covered in long golden brown shaggy hair, which only added to the sheer mass of him. Very scary to look at but he was a real gentle sweetheart, they’d always said he was just an overgrown puppy. 

Animals and animal care was Ben’s true calling. He was extremely passionate about it, it was the reason he got out of bed every day and it showed in his work at the zoo.

Ben knew he wanted to stay in the family business and become a zookeeper ever since his father first let him ride on the back of Lando, a huge yet gentle African elephant. Han always preferred looking after the larger, more dangerous animals, especially elephants and it was no secret that Lando was always his favourite, he had a major soft spot for him. 

When Ben turned 18 and graduated from high school, he left home to begin his studies at the University of Naboo. He graduated early with honours 3 years later with a major in zoology and a minor in biology. He returned to his home of Alderaan and began working at Skywalker Zoo. 

2 months later he met Maz. 

•·················•·················•

Rey had been working as a veterinarian for the last 5 months. She had been very lucky and graduated from Takodana college with an offer for a career as a vet for exotic animals. This was due to her promising school work, enthusiastic work ethic and genuine love for her chosen career path. She had originally graduated from the university of Ahch-To with a major in animal sciences and a minor in microbiology before she applied to study veterinary science at Takodana college. 

The latter years of Rey’s life had been far better than her childhood. Her parents left her in an orphanage on Jakku shortly after she was born. She was put into the foster care system and passed around from foster family to foster family, never really finding a true home. 

The foster homes Rey spent time in weren’t necessarily bad, or good. They were just houses, never homes. From what she’d heard in horror stories, she could’ve had it a lot worse. She never truly felt like she had belonged at any of the homes. Never had a real family, never felt loved or accepted but she didn’t feel hated or rejected either, she was just merely existing in her foster families. 

The only joyous memories of foster homes she had were of a dog that lived at one of her foster homes, his name was Artoo. A tiny little yappy Yorkshire terrier. Artoo was the first time she ever experienced or received feelings of love. The scrawny little dog would yap with glee every time he saw her, rushing over to her to cover her giggling face in kisses. He slept cuddled up at the foot of her bed every single night, without fail. Her foster parents at the time had a ‘no dogs allowed on the furniture’ rule but every time they would go to check on Rey’s sleeping form and saw the little dog snuggled up to her, a faint smile on Rey’s sleeping face, they didn’t have the heart to enforce their rule and let it slide. 

Artoo sparked the flame that is Rey’s love for animals. Each year she begged for her birthday present to be a trip to the zoo so she could see the lions, giraffes, penguins and everything else, she loved them all. For Christmas all she wanted was new animal plushies; dolphins, hippopotami, tigers. She didn’t care which animal the toys were, she wanted them all. As a child (and adult when she had the spare time, which sadly, wasn’t often) Rey absolutely loved watching nature documentaries, she thrived learning about all different types of animals and the way they behaved in their natural habitats, she worked with animals in captivity so she didn’t get to experience animals in their natural state. Her favourites were always the elephants, so unique and huge; yet so gentle and graceful. Watching them as a young girl made her realise what her purpose is, helping animals. 

Rey took her work very seriously. She worked herself practically to exhaustion to prove she was worthy of her position as a fully qualified vet at such a young age. Most people didn’t reach practising veterinarian status until their late 20’s to early 30’s but here she was at 25, living her dream. Her work was her everything. She’d spent as long as she could remember working herself silly to accomplish her goals, and she’d done it. She had no one to be proud of her, but she made up for that by being proud of herself. Of course, she would like a big, loving, supportive family. Who wouldn’t? But she’d realised long ago that she was all she needed. She is her own family and support system and that’s okay. She was independent and that’s how she liked it.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Feel free to leave kudos and comment or come talk to me on [tumblr](https://goodboybensolo.tumblr.com/) and [twitter](https://twitter.com/driversoIo) :)


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